Dhermi | 19th & 20th

19. Ok so last night SUCKED  but now that i’m not tired an cranky it was kinda a fun adventure!  7am and Ergis and Yamsa are here!  We went to the “board walk” had some coffee watched some fish, check out the beach and were off again to meet with Nick, Brooks and Jim.  The adventure begins again!  Enis Nick and I in one and Jim Brooks and Yamsa in the other! Huuuhaaaa yeeaaa man car!  Rollin deep in two minis “Albanina” job style down to Dhermi  The Drive was incredible seeing as much of Albania as possible.  Gopro vid/time laps the entire trip and could not put my phone down for a sec.  This place is soooo photogenic.  But DAMN hills EVERYWHERE up-down-up-down-up-down and around….lol so much fun rippin in the minis  🙂  windows down attitudes up and smiles and laughs all around!  What a trip this is becoming.  Everyone’s spirits are SO HIGH!  JIM IS HILARIOUS when he’s relaxed and enjoying life!  Its been a pleasure having everyone around me they have all MADE this trip! Brooks, Nick, Enis, Yamza Erigis all could not have done it without them.  Around 1ish we arrived in paradise and it was breathtaking.  You’ll just have to look at the pics….20 eurs a night…redic.  I think I found heaven.

 

20.  Woops forgot to tell everyone…Emily…I would be unreachable for two day…my bad.  Had an amazing time to say the very least.  Never been at more peace in my entire life.  Only thing that could have made it better is if Emily was here.  I have been thinking about you babe NON STOP!!!  You are always on my mind and I cant stop thinking about you.  I miss you so much and I cant wait to see you 72hrs and counting down!!!  Today we woke up at 9am exhausted from a full day of sun and play…so we laid out and slept  😀   enjoyed our last day in paradise and left for home at 2.  Spent 10 hrs in the minis seeing all of Albania!!!!  OH MY GOD do I never want to be in a car that long again lol but it was awesome to see this country at its fullest and eat the food see the things and do what we did.  Jim had us in shackles laughing while he was driving…I was crying I was laughing so hard!  Words cannot explain blogs cannot do it justice…best time ever!!  Hahahaha still cracks me up…Jimbo is hilarious!!!

Picture “Italian job” and “Long Way round”  What a trip for the books straight up Albanian style all the way…highways turned to dirt, cows where in the middle of the road, pieces of the rental car where flying off, Jims rental almost died, driver side door didn’t open, brooks passenger seat wouldn’t stay up—riding dirty the whole time…lol it was priceless…rules don’t apply here lolol neither do traffic laws…HA!!!!!  And picture driving at night..it only got worse/funnier…road trips are always the best!   oh to do it all over again.  Its 1am and we need sleep.  Bright and early for POLIS in the am! 8am to be exact.  Lots to do!!

Fun in the SUN | Pool side

Ahhhh finially a day we get to sleep in!  11am never felt so good.  Today consisted of a small brekfest, drinks and the pool!  All day!   happy boy here.  Some dinner around 8 then I got all packed up for some southern comfort in the sun.  next two day we will be in southern ALBANINA enjoying the beach.  Pics to come!  Jim rented a car today so we can shuttle us all down.  Enis, yamsa and I in one car Jim, Brooks and Nick in the other.   Should be an interesting day for jim lol. Driving school 101 –learn from doing.   I had to leave the hotel and my roomies tonight to go with Ergis and yamsa, our Albanian friends, so I got the pleasure of staying in a hot, muggie, bug infested, non ac room for 15 euros tonight.  Not a bad price but im not sure if it’s worth it to only save 30 mins of driving.  I’m misserbale right now.  All part of the fun of traveling I guess.  Pry gunna loose 10lbs tonight in sweat and wake up in hives from all the bug bites….I bet Ergis and yamsa have AC   back at their flat,  why cant I sleep on the couch?  -.-   lol

 

Animals barking!!

POLIS | LTU Crew

Nick does such great work!

Today at Poils it was just the LTU / Makelab crew.  We had tons of issues with the cnc and fine tuning it to our foam blocks.  This caused not a lot to get done today but by the end of the day we were making bricks!  Things should run smoothly next time.  Just goes to show how making perfects the process.  Its essential!  A lesion that cannot be learned any other way.  I believe we are taking tomorrow off  – so R&R is on the horizon!  Its food/drink and bed for me tonight…this of course led to 5 drinks and bed at 1 am. HA!  Can’t keep this old dog down!

Picture courtesy of Nick Cataldo

 

Work Hard.Play Harder.Work Again

Last night, Saturday, we had the pleasure of some POLIS students taking us out on the town for some age appropriate FUN.  After a LONG day in studio we all relaxed  and had some drinks, did a little dancing and just had a great time.  We went to a couple bars, lollipop a club in Tirana, and….some other club i barley remember …lol 😉   we were treated SO well!  It was a well needed/deserved night out,  we couldn’t stop thanking them.  We got back to our hotel around 430am and up at 9am.  UGh it was awful for about 3 hrs into the day hahah.  Worth it.  After we all hydrated for about 3 hrs we had another great day of work. very productive.  My group member are a delight to worth with, easy to handle and eager to have tasks delegated to them.  Very efficient working skills.  we began milling and creating our first blocks which helped to polish the design intent.  tomorrow we should be all ready to just go into production mode like an assembly line. Boom.Boom.Boom.  After class R&R was the only thing on my mind.  A nice shower, few more drinks -cause i’m a lush- some dinner and my favorite part of the night.  Talking to ❤ Emily ❤  It was a very chill, quite, relaxing night…

Think.Design.Make

Today we worked a full 9 hr day at POLIS.  After Jim gave a quick tutorial on Rhino and Grasshopper groups got together and the ideas started FLYING!!  We all went hard the whole day and to everyone’s surprise we are all ready to prototype and begin cutting!  🙂  Only problem we are all running into is that the gantry is bottoming out on the foam block due to the minimum router/gantry clearance when milling 3d surfaces with “extreme” differences.  This is creating more elements to consider which is what design/making is all about 🙂  The american and Albanian students really came together today and friends were made quick!  We are all going out tonight for dinner and drinks.  Its great meeting new people and enjoying each others cultures.  Should be a great night as every night has been.

POLIS UNIVERSITY

Hooookay,

so,

deess eeesss mi Bloug today…..WOW dats a sawweeet Bloug

So today we woke up, had breakfast and we were off at 9am to POLIS University!  day 1!!  I was a little nervous but things obviously turned out great.  Once we arrived Ergis, nick and I set up the suitcase CNC machine and helped Prof Jim S. set up for class.  after 12 we had some lunch, toured POLIS university and class began around 1.  Jim gave a great lecture and introduction to the course and its objectives for the next two weeks.  we met all the students and broke up into groups with each one of us in separate teams to help with the process and learning.  Each team will design, mill and cast concrete block and make a wall.  We all are very excited check it out http://make-lab.org/albania-2013/  After a long day we went back home, had a needed DRINK! and off to dinner.  We walked a few blocks and enjoys some sun while stretching our legs, eat at this amazing restaurant of course.  Albania food is the BEST.  Period.  No further discussion required..its like eating Ruth’s Chris everyday but for $12.  Always happy, always satisfied, always great.  So after great food, tons of laughter, stories, defending my honor as usual from these jokers, lol, and spirits we split with Jimbo and his wife and were off for some social drinking.  🙂  MY FAVORITE!

day two tomorrow!

Sinserly,  Hawaii Tom Selleck  [JS-NN-01] Magnum PI [JS-NN-02]

Albania!

Today two men were seen running through Vienna airport trying to make their connecting flight.  To everyone’s relief, WE MADE IT!  boy was it close, 1 min to spare.  Albania is an amazing place.  The landscape is very much different then i expected; lush, green mountainous region with incredibly nice weather.  After receive the grand treatment curtsy from our friend Erion back home we made it to our hotel safely and hassle free around 3pm.  We met up with our professor around 5pm, enjoyed some drinks at the rooftop bar/pool, Reconnected with some old school friends from Albania and Kosovo then were off to dinner.  Food here is DELICIOUS!! and very inexpensive.  Very affordable for great service.  the people are very nice and i can say i felt welcome.  Tomorrow at 8am the work begins. We leave for Polis University at 9am and return around 630pm.   Work hard play harder.

Barcelona day 2 – Gaudi

Well Nick and I were EXHAUSTED from our first day, slept 12+ hours and over slept. HA!   Knew we would, 9am came and went…But we are on vacation so we are allowed.  Got a great night sleep then OFF TO Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell around noon.  Literally the first time i think i have every felt speechless.  It was so amazing to see Gaudi’s work.  so detailed, so contextual.  As you view this amazing work you wonder how and where did all this detail come from….BARCELONA!!!  I’ve never been a fan but seeing his work changed me entirely.  An entire day could have been spent at Sagrada Familia alone.  It was humbling to say the least.  After which we came back to the hotel, around 8pm,  went swimming and out for the evening.  Dinner, 3 pitchers of sangria’s, 2 beers and 3 jamison’s later here we are packing before we leave at 7am!  Barcelona its been a pleasure!   good times, great memories!  until next time.

June 11th – Exploration

After a good short nap Nick and I were off again.  We walked a little over 6 miles covering around 50 city blocks.  From Arago down Rambla Catalunya around Port de Barcelona through Parque Ciutadella past the ARC de Triomf and back to Europark Hotel.  We started the day with a coffee and croissant as we walked the street enjoying wonderful urban spaces and taking in the natural flow of this place.  The architecture and streets are just amazing.  Its a very different pace here, very relaxed; we sat, we drank, we eat, we looked…..oh MY!  🙂  We were given a lot of caution, received a lot of great advice all travelers should know however Barcelona has been great, no problems with safety or anything.  The people are extremely helpful and polite.  The sun is out and the weather is B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L!  unfortunately this mean i of course didn’t put on any sunscreen.  No worries mother i didn’t get burnt!  However i was reppin my **Bottoms Up** Tank and have a nice permanent de-ago T now  lol but Ill work that out in Albania.  After the LONG day we  came back, rested, cleaned up and went out for some dinner.  Completely different tempo at night.  This city is a ghost town after 8-9 pm on week days…comparative to the day.  It was nice actaully, helped us unwind i think as we took our time getting back to the hotel.  I love how pleasurable it is to walk everywhere!  It was a GREAT day.  Check out the Pics at any time on my Different pages to the Right —->

Night!

I’m about to sleep 12 hrs!!

June 11th – Arrival Buenos Dias Barcelona

Flight was peaceful!

Flying over the Atlantic at night is something else.  I’ve never seen stars or La Galaxia de la Vía Láctea (Milky Way galaxy) so bright and vivid.

SO, after a 7 hr flight, two movies and nap we have arrived!  7am + time zone change = tired boys.  weather is warm, beautiful and everyone has been SO FRIENDLY.  Just checked into our Home for the next two days and it shouldn’t be too bad.

Buenos dias from Barcelona!!!  About to go for a swim and catch some Zzzz on the roof for a few hours, rest up and let the day begin!  CHAU!!